{"id":7470,"date":"2025-10-15T15:52:59","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T14:52:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rdnhs.org.uk\/blog\/?p=7470"},"modified":"2026-04-28T13:24:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T12:24:33","slug":"knowl-hill-15th-october-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rdnhs.org.uk\/blog\/knowl-hill-15th-october-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Knowl Hill – 15th October 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Inge Beck led a walk at Knowl Hill, to the west of Maidenhead, on the morning of Wednesday 15 October. Meeting place for 16 members was the large lay-by on the north side of the A4. It also turned out to be the parking place for the large group of local ladies who practise Nordic walking (with poles) three times per week, including Wednesday mornings but starting earlier in the morning than the Natural History Society. Miraculously, spaces were found for everyone. A tall brick chimney decorated with a painted star is a listed relic from the former Tile and Brickworks at Knowl Hill. The site is now a waste transfer site managed by Grundon. The walk started out in a north-westerly direction along Star Lane. There was a brief diversion through a gap in the hedge into the adjoining grassy field where there is usually a good view of Windsor Castle. However, it was a misty morning and the Castle could not be seen. Stone Parsley and Alexanders were amongst the sightings at the side of the road. Further on, small yellow apples on the ground alerted the group to the location of a Crab Apple tree in the hedgerow. Knowl Hill is ringed by springs which feed into small streams which carve deep gullies through the underlying London Clay deposits. The track crossed one of these gullies. The top of Knowl Hill is crossed by a network of lanes, bridleways and footpaths and covered by ancient semi-natural woodland. The route led first to Warren Row to admire the chapel, St Paul\u2019s Mission Church, also called the Tin Tabernacle. It was bought as a kit for \u00a3100 in 1894. From a nearby vantage point, it is possible to look northwards towards Medmenham and BBOWT\u2019s Hurley Chalk-pit reserve. The next part of the walk was south-westwards through woodland which was dominated by beech, together with a scattering of other species. A good variety of fungi was found amongst the leaf litter and on fallen wood. This included Blushing Bracket Daedaleopsis confragosa<\/em>, Magpie Inkcap Coprinopsis picacea<\/em>, the greenish-grey Powdery Brittlegill Russula parazurea<\/em>, Birch Milkcap Lactarius tabidus<\/em>, Porcelain Fungus Oudemansiella mucida<\/em> on beech, Fly Agaric Amanita muscaria<\/em> under birch, Rosy Bonnet Mycena rosea<\/em>, False Death Cap Amanita citrina<\/em>, Beech Milkcap Lactarius blennius<\/em>, Slender Parasol Macrolepiota mastoidea <\/em>and Yellowing Curtain Crust Stereum subtomentosum<\/em>. One of the highlights of this part of the walk was a single Helleborine plant to one side of the track which was the subject of much discussion. The leaves did not appear to be wide enough for Broad-leaved Helleborine and Violet Helleborine usually grows in clusters. Narrow-lipped and Green-flowered Helleborines might also be possibilities. It was thought that it might be easier to identify it next summer when the plant is flowering, so a 10-digit grid reference, SU81116 89480 was taken, to help with its relocation if anyone has the opportunity to look for it again. As the route circled round, glimpses were had of first Reading, then Bracknell. Then Clustered Bracket Inonotus cuticularis <\/em>was found on beech, Orange Peel fungus Aleuria aurantia <\/em>was found on bare ground and Lactarius controversus <\/em>was found under willow. The next part of the walk was down across a large restored open area, on the site of the former quarry. Large boulders had been deposited on either side of the track, to discourage walkers from straying off the track. The first of the fungi found here was a small clump of the Weeping Widow Lacrymaria lacrymabunda<\/em>, with black edges to the cap and powder on the stem. A few plants of Common Fleabane were still flowering, as was purple- and white-flowered Goat\u2019s-rue. The leaves of Sun Spurge were seen. A path led from the former quarry site back to Star Lane. Most of the walkers then went to The Cricketers at Littlewick Green for lunch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Inge Beck led a walk at Knowl Hill, to the west of Maidenhead, on the morning of Wednesday 15 October. Meeting place for 16 members…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_customify_content_layout":"","_customify_sidebar":"","_customify_page_header_display":"default","_customify_disable_header":"","_customify_disable_header_top":"","_customify_disable_header_main":"","_customify_disable_header_bottom":"","_customify_disable_page_title":"","_customify_disable_content_vertical_padding":"","_customify_disable_footer_top":"","_customify_disable_footer_main":"","_customify_disable_footer_bottom":"","_customify_breadcrumb_display":"","_customify_header_transparent_display":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[36,52,49],"class_list":["post-7470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wednesday-walks","tag-fungi","tag-knowl-hill","tag-wildlife-walk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdnhs.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdnhs.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdnhs.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdnhs.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdnhs.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7470"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/rdnhs.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7470\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7509,"href":"https:\/\/rdnhs.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7470\/revisions\/7509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdnhs.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdnhs.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdnhs.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}